Day 167: Field of Dreams

After hearing a voice out in his cornfield, Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) builds a baseball field and talks to ghosts.

Ray hears the voice telling him, “If you build it, he will come” and eventually he understands that he has to build a baseball field on his farm. His wife doesn’t hear the voice and she thinks he’s a little nuts but she supports him completely and helps him to build it. And even after they have no money left and they’re threatened with eviction, she still supports him and neither of them want to give up the field. I really loved their relationship. Even though she was sceptical she still supported him because she could see that it was something he had to do. Their daughter is great about it too and spends time with Ray listening to his stories about baseball. Their family life was great and it makes me smile to think about.

The main thing I got from the film was the idea that you shouldn’t put anything off because you don’t know when your time is up. It’s weird, I was having a conversation earlier and the guy I was talking to said that the furthest he plans into the future is two weeks because he doesn’t know what’s going to happen. We were talking about the end of the year and he said that anything could happen in that time and it makes no sense to plan that far ahead. In the film, Ray always wanted to tell his dad that he loved him and didn’t mean the awful thing he said but he died before he got the chance. There’s no point waiting around to do something because you really never know what’s going to happen. If you’re putting something off and waiting for ‘the right time’ then stop it. There is no right time and if you wait around for it then you’ll always be waiting. Do it now.

That sounded preachy, right? Anyway.

It’s Father’s Day and so I thought a dad film was necessary. I really wasn’t expecting to like this (I don’t know why?) but I couldn’t have been more wrong. It was really great and not at all ridiculous like I thought it was going to be.

8/10

Day 59: The Hunt For Red October

Russians have made a fancy new submarine (Red October) that can go pretty much undetected in the water, which would be pretty devastating for any enemies they may have. Like America, let’s say. In order to make sure the submarine cannot be used to fight the Americans, Marko Ramius (Sean Connery), and some select crew members have decided to defect and take the submarine with them. The Russians are furious and attempt to find the Red October to stop any defection. And because the mission had to be kept completely secret, the Americans think the Red October is planning to attack them. It’s all close to potential war, but along comes Jack Ryan (Alec Baldwin) to save the day. He convinces the powers that be that Captain Ramius intends to defect and that they should help him to safely reach America.

All of that sounds like trouble enough but then they discover they have a saboteur aboard, which leads to just the saddest death (Sam Neill, my baby). Despite it being totally obvious who the saboteur was immediately it was still pretty exciting. Being on board a submarine seems so hectic, not entirely sure how they manage to hear or understand each other when all the sirens are going and orders are being shouted from all sides. But it also seems just so much fun!

Again, I didn’t think I was going to like this film (two hours of politics and an all male crew? Aaah) but it turns out it was super exciting. Apparently I’m a big kid and submarines are awesome. Never seen a submarine explode before but it was brilliant! Wasn’t too heavy on the politics either, which was nice. And Alec Baldwin’s a babe so I guess that made up for the lack of women. And Dr. Grant is in it! What more could you want on a submarine but a dinosaur expert and all round badass?

Listening to Sean Connery makes me want to talk with more of a Scottish accent. I’ve typed this whole blog out in his voice and it amused me no end.

8/10